The Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff hasn’t even received the official greenlight yet, but it’s already enlisting two of the stars from the parent series to usher it into hopeful ratings success.

Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood, who play Barbara “Bobbi” Morse (a.k.a. Mockingbird) and Lance Hunter, respectively, have been cast as the headlining stars of the Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff.

Giving the spinoff a Mr. & Mrs. Smith vibe, Lance and Bobbi are former husband and wife who have let sparks fly in a push-pull relationship on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Marvel, ABC and reps for Palicki and Blood declined comment.

The spinoff is supposed to be set up by events from this season of S.H.I.E.L.D. It is unclear whether that would involve the secret plan by Bobbi and Mack, which had been heavily teased going into the spring run of the show.

The offshoot was developed by S.H.I.E.L.D. executive producer Jeffrey Bell and co-executive producer Paul Zbyszewski, who are writing the script and would executive produce. ABC is not expected to make a formal greenlight call until the script comes in, with the hope being to be able to do that before the upfronts. The spinoff may film a promo or do a pilot. If it goes to series, I hear Zbyszewski is expected to serve as showrunner.

Credit: ABC

It’s unknown if ABC will air the spinoff concurrently with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or go with the midseason route they used to great success with Marvel’s Agent Carter (a series which has yet to be renewed for a second season. In the event of its cancellation, this S.H.I.E.L.D. spinoff could easily fill that midseason gap). This might be a smarter move than concurrent airings, since Once Upon A Time In Wonderland didn’t exactly benefit from being broadcast at the same time as Once Upon A Time. That said, the death of that show had far more to do with its Thursday 8:00 PM time slot, since nothing short of a Shonda Rhimes drama has ever thrived there for ABC in recent years.

Ultimately, no premiere date is set, but it’d be great if they’d thought of this spinoff sooner, since it could have premiered in the summer as a way to bridge the gap between seasons of S.H.I.E.L.D. (although I guess it could still serve that function at midseason). I like Palicki and Blood’s characters, and they have great chemistry, so whatever ABC and Marvel have up their sleeves, I’m sure it’ll make for fun TV.